Rear sight for firearms.



J. D. FENDER &:R. s. TROTT.

REA R SIGHT FOR FIREARMS. APPLICATION FILED n20. 26,1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

wmuwo PATENTED NOV. 6, 1906.

No. 835,112. PATENTED NOV. 6, 1906. J. D. FENDER &.R. s. TROTT. REARSIGHT FOR FIREARMS.

APPLICATION I'ILED 1030.26,?1'906- R: co, wAsiuNomN. D. c.

UNITED v STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

JOS'EPH D. FENDER, OF DENVER, AND ROLLAND S. TROTT, OF GOLDEN,

COLORADO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Nov. 6,1906.

I Application filed December 26, I905- -Seria1No. 293,153.

To all whom, it many concern/.2

Be it that we, JOSEPHDL'PENDER, residing the city and county of Denver,and ROLLANI) IS. Tno'rr, residing at Golden, 5 in the county ofdeflers'on, State of Colorado, citizens of the United States, haveinvented certain new and usetu-l Improvements in Rear Sights forFirearms; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will onable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, to the letters and figures of referencemarkedthereon, which form a part of this specification Our inventionrelates to improvements in sights for firearms.

This invention belongs to the class generally known as rear sights todistinguish it from the; sight at the iorwa-rdend oi the barrel. Therear sight of course cooperates with the usual forward sight, the latternot being illustrated in the drawings, as nothing isclairned thereon. ,1I

The object of our improvement is to provide a device of this class whichmay be quicklyadjusted, and therefore adapted for use undercircumstances making it impracticable to expend any appreciable amountof time in the work of adjustment. For in: stance, if the object atwhich the gun is aimed is moving, as is often the case, our improvedsight is adapted for instantaneous and accurate adjustment to harmonizewith the range or distance of the object at the-instant the triggeris'pu-lled.

Our improved sight is spring-actuated, whereby. the sight is raised apredetermined distance by the spring every time the sight is released.In our improvement the sight is I rovided with ratchet-teeth, and thecontroling device includesa reciprocating part cupying a position atright angles to the 45 movement of the sight under the influence ofthespring. Assuming that the sight has been raised, it may be restoredto its normal or lowered position by simply pressing down thereon,whereby the teeth of the ratchet are made to engage the controllingdevice, producing'a clicking sound.

Having briefly outlined our improved construction, as well as thefunction itis intended to perform, we will proceed to describe the F g Ie which is next to the receiver of the gun when,

the sight is applied. In this view the mechanism 18 shown on a largerscale than Figs.

1 and 2.. Fig. 4 is asect-ron taken on the line 4 4, Fig. 3, lookingdownwardly or the direction of the arrow. Fig. 5 is a perspective viewin detail of the reciprocating device shown on a larger scale. Fig. 6 isa sectional view taken through the casing and the reciprocating deviceof the sight, the sight proper being shown in elevation. This view isshown on astilllarger scale and is seen from a position directlyopposite the view in Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a detail view, in rear elevation,showing a modified for n -oi construction. Fig. 8 is a side view, indetail and partly broken away, of the constructidn shown in Fig. 7. Fig.9 shows two views of a pivoted pawl forming a part of the constructionshown in Figs. .7 and 8. Fig. this an enlarged fragmentary detail viewillustrating the operation of this term 0t =construction. The samereference characters indicate the same parts in all the views;

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, let

the numeral 5 designate the. receiver o r' a gun, as a small firearm. ofordinary construc tion. To one side of this receiver is attached ourimproved sight by means of screws 6 inserted in slots 7, formed in thecasing 8. The

screwsare threaded into the receiver, and by virtue of the slots in thecasing the latter is capable of the necessary vertical adjustment toadapt the sight for use with firearms of different makes and sizes.

As shown in the drawings, the casing is closed on the side remote fromthe receiver, while the flat side of the receiver itself closes thecasing on the inside. The casing is open at the top to allow theratchet-bar (designated by the numeral 8 to rotrude. This sight consistsof a vertical y-disp'osed and a centrally recessed to receive anactuatingspring 9, which surrounds the pin 10, securedtothe casing atits lower extremity. The recess 12 ofthe bar is of sufficient size toallow the sprin 9 freedom of movement,

whereby i'tis a apted to lift the bar 8 as soon as thelatte'r isreleased by the red 1'0 catinglocking or controlling device 13.- hiscontrolling device consists of a bar horizontally disposed or disposedat right angles to ;-.the'-movement of the ratchet-bar 8. This baris'cut away or recessed on one side, as

same hand used to pull the trigger.

. whereby the toothed. or

shownat-13, to make room for the ratchet-g bar, Itfis also rovided' withoppositely disposed teeth or eveled parts 13, adapted to engagetheratchet-teeth of the bar 8,

formed on opposite sides of the latter,'as

aforesaid. The' rear extremity of this recip- Y rocatingcontroller isprovided with a head- 13, adaptedto be conveniently pressed by the user'of the gun, using the thumb of the The outer surface of this button orush-head of the controlling device is prefera ly milled or roughened, asshown in Fig. 1, to prevent the thumb; from slipping therefrom.' Thefor-- ward and rear edges of the casing are respec-v tively'providedwith o enings 14 and 15,

beveled portions 13 of ther'eci rocating device are given access to theratchet-teeth of the bar 8 during the reciprocating'movement of thelatter. Thev rear extremity of the reciprocating device 13 bears againsta leaf-spring 16 under such tension as to normally hold the device 13 atits rearward limitof movement, or that illusbe released. and allowed tomove upwardly trated in Fig, 6 of the drawings. Now if it is desired toelevate the si ht the user of the gun simpl presses on the ead of thedevice 13, where y the latter is given a rearward movement a ainst thespring 16. Assuming that the devlce 13 is in the. position shown in Fig.6, as this device is pushed rearwardly the rear tooth 13 will disengagethe ratchettooth A just as the forward tooth 13 enters the recess Babove the tooth A on the op 0- site side of the ratchet. The bar 8 willt us until the rear tooth 13 of the contro lin device en ages the upperface of the toot A. This wi 1 stop the upward movement of theratchet-bar until the operator ceases to press upon the reciprocatingdevice, in which event the s ring16 will throw the device 13 rearwardl,-whereby the tooth A of the ratchetbar is released, in which event thebar 8 will move upwardl until the reartooth of the reciprocating eviceengages the upper surface of the ratchet-tooth A thus allowing the sightto move upwardly the length of one ratchet-tooth during each operationof the controlling device 1 From this descri tion it will be understoodthat the vertical a justment of the sight may be ver quickly and easilyobtained by the user 0 the gun, whereby it becomes practicable toaccurately arrange the sight for all ranges or distances,thus making thesame exceedingly valuable where a rapid adjustment is necessary, aswhere the distance of the object is constantly varying, as when ananimal at which the gun is aimed is on the run,

After the sight has been raised to the del sired limit and has answeredits purpose it may be returned to its normal or lowered position,whereby the part 8 is made to engage the top of the receiver by downwardo pressure on its upper extremity, which causes 7 the bar 8 to slip pastthe teeth of the reciprocating device in a manner well understood.

In the form of construction shown in Figs. 7 to 10, inclusive, the bodyof the casing may be designated by the reference character 17. Thiscasing is open on the inside adjacent the outer wall of the receiver.The outer art of the casing is closed by a late 17 0 a size indicated bydotted lines in Fig. 8, whereby the leaf-spring 16, as well as theothermechanism, is entirely inclosed. In this case the plate 18,provided with the ratchet-teeth, is applied to the front side of theverticallymovable sight-bar 19. This bar is recessed vertically toreceive an actuating coil-spring 20, whose lower extremity engages thebottom of the casing, while the upper extremity engages the top of thelongitudinal recess, whereby as the sight-bar is released the ten- 11osion of the spring carries it upwardly. In this case we employareciprocating controller 21, having forwardly-projecting upper and lowerarms or fingers 22 and 23, respectively.

As shown in the drawings, the part 23 is se- :15 cured to the body ofthe reciprocating device by a screw 24. The arm 22 engages the upperportion of the leaf-spring 16, whose lower extremity is secured to thecasing bya screw 25. The spring 16 also normally engages one corner of apawl 26, pivoted to the casing,

as shown at 27, and having up er and lower teeth 28 and 29, adapted to aternately engage the teeth of the ratchet-plate 18. In this orm ofconstruction the pivoted pawl 26 is so 12 5 arranged with reference tothe spring 16 that the latter locks the pawl in either of two positionsof adjustment, one being the position shown in full lines and the otherin dotted lines in Fig. 10. This pawl 26 is provided with a number ofteeth C, out therein and lying in a different plane from theratchetengaging teeth 28 and 29. One of these teeth C is always in frontof the arm or finger 23 of the reciprocating device. When the awloccupies the position shown in full lines in Fig. 10., theactuating-finger 23 engages the upper inclined wall C of the tooth 0,whereby the forward thrust of the finger 23 serves to rock the pawl orthrow it to the dotted-line position, whereby the apex C of the toothC'is above the point 23 of the finger. When in this dotted-lineposition, the spring 16 acts 'on the pawl to hold it in the saidposition. The full forward position of the finger 122 and the spring 16is indicated by dotted lines in Fig; 10 at the extreme left thereof. Therearward nrovement of the spring before it engages the pawl in thedotted-line position is sufficient to return the reciprocating device toits rearward limit of movement ready for the next forward thrust. Duringthe movement of the pawl from the full-line to the dotted-line positionin Fig; 10 the sight-bar 19 moves upwardly half the length of aratchet-tooth and is locked in that position by the lower tooth 29 ofthe pawl. The next forward movement of the reciprocating device 21 willcause the finger 23 to engage the lower wall C of the middle tooth C andthrow the pawl from the dotted-line position to the full-line position,during which time thesight-bar will move upwardly another half-tooth,the spring will return the reciprocating device to its normal positionand engage the pawl and hold it in the fullline position until the nextforward thrust. It will thus be seen that two reciprocations of thedevice 21 are necessary in order to allow the sight-bar to move upwardthe length of one ratchet tooth. This construction and arrangement givesa very close and accurate adjustment of the sight.

From the foregoing description the use and operation of our improveddevice will be readily understood, and therefore need not be furtherdescribed in detail.

Attention is called to the fact that in the form of construction shownin Figs. 1 to 6 of the drawings the distance between the teeth of theratchet-bar increases as the teeth extend downwardly. The object of thisis to cause the vertical adjustment of the sight to harmonize with theaccelerated downward movement of the ball or projectile as it leaves themuzzle of the gun. It is well known that the speed. of a falling bodyincreases in a regular ratio. Hence the necessity for a greater upwardmovement of the sight for each reciprocating movement of the controllingdevice during the upward progress of the sight.

Attention is called to the fact that the head of the reciprocatingdevice when actuated is concealed within a recess 30,- thus making itimpossible to accidentally actuate the said device. This is quite animportant feature, since if the head protruded from the casing farenough to permit it to be actuated without design the sight would becapable of accidental change of position, and this might not be noticedby the user of the gun and might, therefore, result in greatinconvenience and annoyance. When thereciprocating device is at itsrearward limit ofmovement, its head only protrudes slightly from therecess 30, thus making it impossible of accidental movement to asufficient degree to release the ratchet-bar.

Having thus described our invention, what weclaimis 1. A rear sight forfirearms comprising a casing, 'a vertically-movable spring-raised sightlocated in the casing, and a spring-retained locking device slidable inthe casing at right angles tothe movement of the sight, to permit apredetermined upward movement of the sight under the influence of itsspring.

2. A sight for firearms comprising a casing adapted to be 'attached toone side of the receiver, a vertically-movable spring-raised sighthaving a bar located in the casing and permitted toprotrude at the topof the latter, and sight-locking means including a device slidable inthe casing at right angles to the movement of the sight, the lockingmeans being connected to release the bar and allow it to move upwardly apredetermined distanc e, for each movement of the slidable device.

3. A sight for firearms comprising a casing, a ratchet-bar located inthe casing, and means mounted in the casing for locking the bar againstmovement, said means including a device mounted to slide in the casingand connected to release the bar and permit a predetermined movement foreach rec1procation of the slidable device.

4. A gun sight comprising a casing, a ratchet-bar vertically movable inthe casing, a spring-retained sliding device connected to control themovement of the ratchet-bar, the latter being centrally recessed, anda-coilspring located in the recess and having a normal tendency to liftthe ratchet-bar.

5. A gun sight comprising a casing, a ratchet-bar reciprocable therein,a pivoted pawl engaging the ratchet-face of the bar, and aspring-retained device for actuating the pawl to release the bar, saiddevice being mounted to slide at right angles to the ratchet-bar.

6. A gun-sight comprising a support, a ratchet-bar vertically movable inthe support, a spring acting on the bar to lift the same, a locking-pawlmounted adjacent the ratchetface of the casing and having upper andlower teeth, one of these teeth being normally in engagement with thetooth of the ratchet, and a device mounted to slide at right angles toIlO the ratchet-bar for rocking the pawl to causeone tooth to releasethe ratchet-bar and another tooth to engage the ratchet-bar, the teethof the ratchet being so arranged with reference to the teeth of thepawl, that the bar is allowed to move upwardly a predetermined distancefor each operation of the pawl.

7. A gun-sight comprising a casing adapted to be attached to thereceiver of a gun and vertically adjustable thereon, a spring-liftedratchet-bar located in the casing and protruding from the top thereof, apawl pivoted to the casingadjacent its ratchet-face, a' leafspringnormally engaging the pawl and holding it in engagement with theratchet-face of the bar, and a reciprocating'd'evice provided with twofingers, one adapted to engage the leaf-spring and the other adapted toengage the pawl whereby as the reciprocating 'de-l vice is pressed, theleaf-spring is actuated to release the pawl, and the pawl actuated tore- .lease the ratchet-bar and allow a limited upward movement beforereengaging the same.

8. A gun-sight comprising a casing, a 1

ratchet-bar. and a locking device to release the bar and permit 'apredetermined move- ,ment,the-locking device being mounted to slide atright angles to the ratchet-bar, the

each reciprocation, the casing being provided with a recess in which therear extremity of the reciprocating device is concealed when operated,for the purpose setforth. 10. A sight for firearms comprisinga suitablesupport, 'a vertically-movable springraised sight located in thesupport, and a spring-retained locking device slidable in the support topermit a predetermined movement of the sight under the influence of itsspring, for each movement of the locking de- In. testimony whereof weaflix our signa tures in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH D. FENDER.

Witnesses:

DENA NELSON, A. J. OBRIEN ROLLAND s. TROTT. I

